"It is the most important victory of my career." -- Head Coach Dick Voris, after the Hoos’ 15-12 victory over Duke on September 27, 1958. Voris finished his UVA career with a record of 1-29.

"We've stopped recruiting young men who want to come here to be students first and athletes second." -- Former Virginia head coach Sonny Randle, describing his strategy for turning around UVA's football program

UVA Football - Random Musings

"As the score mounted, to 20-0 and finally 26-0, his movements slowed. With two minutes to go and South Carolina threatening once more, Voris stood behind several rows of substitutes, staring at his shoes." -- Sports Illustrated, describing Coach Voris’ stellar coaching performance during the Hoos’ 26-0 loss to South Carolina in 1960

"Really, Texas wasn't as good as I thought they'd be." -- Ted Manly, Virginia's freshman quarterback, after Texas had spanked the Hoos 68-0

UVA Football’s Top 20 Stomach Punch Games (1989-2008)

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The first entry in the Top 20 is a little unique from the rest. It's the only game featuring a baseball score, and one of the few that does not contain a blown lead. UVA was awful on offense right from the start, amassing only 199 total yards, and the Hoos eventually succumbed to a significantly inferior UNC team. Fans generally regard this game as one of poorest performances of Al Groh's coaching regime. Little did we know that it portended a future where consistently high performances would become more and more elusive under his leadership.

Background

The 2005 season was a key transition year for the UVA football program. While Marques Hagans returned at quarterback, numerous key playmakers on both offense and defense had departed after three consecutive seasons of eight or more wins. This season would help shed some light on whether Al Groh could roll up his already-cropped sweatshirt sleeves and continue to compete in the upper echelon of the ACC. The first half of the year included wins against lackluster competition and two bad losses at Maryland and BC in which the Hoos gave up 73 points. Then, just as fans thought UVA was headed back into the realm of mediocrity, Biscuit passed for over 300 yards and almost single-handedly took down #4 Florida State, 26-21. After the game, in one of Bobby Bowden's all-time great sound bites, he quipped, "we just couldn't stop that dadgum number 18." I'd love to know if he ever caught Marques’s actual name.

With the FSU win in hand, UVA fans were juiced. It finally appeared Groh was loosening the reins on Hagans, and that he was going to let his athletic gunslinger win games with his arm and his feet, by any means necessary. The team was 4-2, (2-2 in the ACC), with three very winnable games coming up on the schedule. Win those, and the team could be 7-2 going into the Virginia Tech game with quite a bit on the line. Not too shabby for a transition year.

Opponent

UNC was 2-3 (1-1 in the ACC) at the time of this contest and in the midst of another season of unmet expectations under Coach John Bunting, who was another in the long line of Tar Heel coaches who were not Mack Brown. They were coming off a tightly contested loss to Louisville, where the game wasn't as close as the 69-14 score would indicate. To UVA fans who had grown accustomed to beating UNC on a regular basis, the game appeared to be a relatively easy win for the Hoos.

Here's how this top-20 stinker graded out:

Size of Lead Lost – 0 out of 10 Points

UVA never led in this game, mostly because their offense was horrific right from the start. UNC made several mistakes to help keep Virginia in the game, including snapping a punt through the end zone for a safety to make the score 7-2 at halftime. A field goal early in the fourth quarter by Connor Hughes gave UVA fans a sense of, "yeah, our offense is putrid, but UNC stinks and now we don’t even need a touchdown to win this trainwreck of a game." Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed by a steady diet of mind-numbingly conservative play calls.

Level of Choke – 8 out of 10 Points

The Hoos did not play tentative on this day, but watching the gameplan and playcalling unfold made most UVA fans want to bash in their heads with an empty pint bottle. The constant barrage of slow-developing sweeps by running backs Wali Lundy and Cedric Peerman was unbelievable to see, especially in comparison to the gameplan a week earlier against FSU. Lundy and Peerman combined to rush for 64 yards on 29 never-ending attempts. And it honestly seemed like 64 carries for 29 yards.

To put the performance in even greater context, this was the first time UNC had held a team under 200 yards of total offense in 5 years. It was also the fewest points UNC had scored in a victory since 1971.

Singular Moment – 4 out of 10 Points

There was not a single play that determined our fate in this game, unless you consider the fact that Offensive Coordinator Ron Prince called for the same, single sweep play over and over and over again with no success. But Ron still kept running it, didn't he? Yep, yep he did.

Painful Finish – 5 out of 10 Points

The game stayed close, thanks in large part to the ineptitude of the Tar Heels. The final nail in the coffin occurred as UVA drove into UNC territory with less than 2 minutes left and Hagans threw a ball that was tipped and intercepted. Although the INT was painful, many UVA fans were just relieved not to have to watch another sweep.

Season Killer – 3 out of 10 Points

UVA had a week off to recover from the UNC performance and managed to beat Temple and Georgia Tech at home to go to 6-3 and become bowl-eligible. They finished 6-5 and went to the Music City Bowl and defeated Minnesota in another game where Hagans was allowed to air it out. Beating UNC would probably not have generated a better bowl for the Hoos in 2005, but another 8-win season would have looked much better on Groh's resume.

Long-Term Implications – 6 out of 10 Points

The lasting impression from the 2005 UNC game was the coaching and game-planning associated with the team's offensive performance. From this point forward, it was difficult to argue that Groh and Prince could be rather stubborn in their adherence to the power running game. When asked about the Groh years, UVA fans will quickly point to this game as a prime example for why Groh leaves something to be desired as a head football coach. It didn’t help that the game was against a traditional rival that UVA has had great success against over the last 20 years.

Conclusion

It's fair to say that the 2005 UNC game would not have made the list if UVA had not beaten #4 ranked FSU the preceding week. Coming off one of the top wins of the Groh Era, fan expectations spiked and there was a great deal of anticipation entering this game. Emotionally for the fanbase, it was a terrible time to blow a tire. UNC was a bad team in 2005, and they didn't play particularly well on this day. Even with their checkered history, UVA usually won these games. But the stubborn, unimaginative offense ultimately ruled the day. And as a result, many UVA fans would never view Coach Groh in the same light again.